The efforts towards the successful emergence of Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi as the next governor of Enugu State in 2015 under the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) received a boast on Wednesday as his candidature won more endorsements.
According to a reliable source who confided in THE CITIZEN at the PDP Secretariat in Enugu, the recent endorsement came from the Enugu-East Senatorial zone yesterday, where Ugwuanyi was unanimously endorsed as the consensus candidate for the 2015 governorship election.
At a meeting held at the banquet hall at the Governor’s Lodge at the State’s Lion Building Enugu, which the state Governor, Sullivan Chime attended, the Senator representing the zone, Senator Gilbert Nnaji, all the Federal House of Representatives and other critical stakeholders who were present supported a motion moved by Chief John Egbo for the endorsement of Ugwuanyi as the party’s consensus governorship candidate in 2015.
“Ugwuanyi was unanimously endorsed by the zone and the support he got was overwhelming. All the who is who in the party from the Enugu-East zone met at the Governor’s Lodge for the meeting where he was unanimously endorsed. It was a thing of joy to be part of the winning team. All of us at the meeting supported the motion and there was no dissenting voice. That tells you that Ugwuanyi is the man of the people,” said the source.
This latest endorsement of the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Maritime Transport as the consensus gubernatorial candidate of PDP in the state is coming on the heels of an earlier unanimous validation by the Party members drawn from the Enugu-North last Friday.
Many people believe that Ugwuanyi’s gale of endorsements will reduce the lingering political disagreement between Governor Sullivan Chime and members of the National Assembly in the state.
It could be recalled that stakeholders of the PDP caucus mainly drawn from Enugu North senatorial zone last Friday endorsed Ugwuanyi’s candidacy for the governorship election after a three-hour closed door meeting held at the instance of the governor at the Government House.
According to a source at the meeting, no fewer than 10 frontline governorship aspirants from Nsukka zone pulled out of the race preferring Ugwuanyi as the candidate with the capacity to uniting the various feuding factions in the state.
The aspirants who stepped down for Hon. Ugwuanyi include, Chairman of the PDP in the State, Engr. Vita Abba; a former Deputy Governor of the state, Chief Okechukwu Itanyi; Speaker Enugu House of Assembly, Hon. Eugene Odoh; Hon. Pat Asadu, Prince Mathew Agu, Amb. Fidel Ayogu, Prof. Osita Ogbu, Chief Ikeje Asogwa, Prof. Simon Ortuanya and Dan Onyishi, .
The meeting was said to have been attended by at least 90 notable chieftains of the party including members of the party’s working committee, Board of Trustees, commissioners, national and state lawmakers, elders, council chairmen and their deputies from the zone.
Some of them included former National Chairman of PDP, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, Chairman of the Senate Committee on works, Senator Ayogu Eze, Chief Fidelis Okoro, Ambassador Fidel Ayogu, State PDP chairman, Chief Vita Abba, Elder Stateswoman and former member of the House of Representatives, Chief (Mrs.) Justina Eze, and chairman of the PDP in that zone, Chief Mike Ejinima.
A former member of the National Assembly who was at the meeting said “what happened is a good development for our zone and for the state because the decision of the governor and other stakeholders to support the emergence of Ugwuanyi would, at least reduce the tension created by the governor’s problem with the National Assembly members over the agreement banning second and third term aspirants from seeking re-election next year.
“Now, one of them who was affected by the agreement has been chosen as the consensus candidate and another member of the National Assembly present, Dr. Patrick Asadu, spoke on behalf of others to support the choice of Ugwuanyi, so it means that the fears of those of them in Abuja that the governor wants to retire them from politics may not be real after all”, the source added.
Even Nkanu people have joined to say that the choice of Ugwuanyi is apt. PDP Enugu State is worthy of emulation by other states. Thanks to Governor Sullivan Chime for this exemplary leadership.